


The Cousin

by Haely_Potter



Series: When Harry met Kurt [5]
Category: Glee, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-18
Updated: 2013-01-18
Packaged: 2017-11-25 22:47:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/643780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Haely_Potter/pseuds/Haely_Potter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Carole's sister and her husband have died and they have to take in one of her two nephews</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

On that particular Saturday morning Carole woke up with a feeling that something horrible had happened. It was the same feeling she had had when her youngest sister had died almost fifteen years ago and when Christopher had died in Middle East three years latter. While her first instinct was to check on Finn down in the basement, she turned to look at Burt whom she found sound asleep exactly where she left him when she went to sleep: right next to her. She checked his breathing and pulse (which was a bit quicker than her own but nothing to worry about) and was satisfied when both were steady. Kurt, she knew, was sleeping in his bed and was as healthy as possible, after all, he needed his beauty sleep and he ate healthier than anyone.

A terrible thought hit her. Finn had still been out when she'd gone to bed. Getting up quickly and silently, like only a mother could, she slipped on her slippers and threw on her dressing gown, making her way downstairs, through the living room and down the basement steps. Her heart went cold and she gripped the railing as she stared at the empty bed her son should have been sleeping in.

Kurt's restless movement, like he sensed someone looking in his general direction, snapped Carole back to reality and she dashed back up to the living room only to stop dead in her tracks.

Finn was sleeping on the couch, clothes rumpled and only somewhat dirty. What was most important though, was the steady rising and lowering of his chest under the quilt he'd somehow managed to drag over himself. Relief filled her chest and weakly she made her way to her son, only to sit beside him on the couch.

Silently, her eyes traced his features and soaked in his silent strength that finally showed itself last year. While he wasn't identical to his father, he reminded her strongly of him. Finn had Chris' jaw, eyes, forehead and hair and self-centered but righteous attitude. She sincerely hoped it wouldn't lead to his death like it had led to Chris'.

She stroke Finn's cheek gently and continued to do so when he stirred.

"M'm?" her half asleep son mumbled and tried to swat her hand away.

"Why aren't you sleeping in your bed, sweetie?" Carole asked with a slight smile.

Confused, Finn looked around. Then a light bulb seemed to turn on in his head. "Came 'ome t' late. Was 'fraid 'd wake Kurt 'n' make 'im 'ngry at m'," came the mumbled explanation.

A smile spread over Carole's face. She didn't know any other person who were as considerate as Finn. Oh, Kurt was considerate too, but in a different, more subtle way. He'd have no problem with waking someone up in the middle of the night but she knew from Burt's tales that it was Kurt who made sure Burt ate something else than beer and meat pies, Kurt nagged Burt to keep in contact with his friends out side the garage, Kurt made sure things were in their right places and Kurt was the one who left the small post-its around the house to remind the other occupants of the house of their schedules that day. How Kurt found out she had a lunch date with her friends she'd never know. Hell, he was the one who introduced her and Burt to each other! Finn, on the other hand, wasn't so subtle. He arranged his schedule around everyone else's: he showered in the evenings because Kurt hoarded their bathroom in the mornings, he took out the garbage without asking, he often gave the remote to the other person who came to watch TV with him (unless there was an important game on right that moment) and he always left hot water over when he showered.

"Why don't you go to bed, sweetie? It's 7:30 already and I'll be making noise in the kitchen," Carole patted his cheek and got up.

With an agreeing sound, Finn got up and stumbled to the basement door with half lidded eyes. Carole shook her head in amusement. Teenagers.

Not ten seconds latter there was a crash and a loud "FINN HUDSON! GET OFF OF ME THIS INSTANT! YOU'RE CRUSHING MY LUNGS! And Why Are You Coming Back This Late? Or is it early?" Carole didn't hear her son's answer and pushed the basement door closed with an other shake of her head. They already acted like siblings even if Kurt's crush on Finn had complicated things in the beginning.

With the thought of siblings the horrible feeling came back with a vengeance. She took a deep breath to calm her raging emotions. She'd make breakfast, have a cup of tea and think things through rationally.

Not an hour latter the phone rang and Carole picked it up with her left hand, her tea held in the other.

"This is the Hummel residence, Carole Hudson speaking," she greeted and took a sip from her tea.

"I'm sorry to bother you this early in the morning, Mrs. Hudson," a young female voice said down the line. "I'm Cheryl Beckett from Surrey central hospital in England. I regret to inform you that your sister Petunia Dursley née Evans and her husband Vernon Dursley died in a car crash early this morning."

Icy needles punctured Carole's heart and her hand that held her tea became slack. Her tea fell. Her other baby sister was dead. First her parents, then Lily, then Chris and now Petunia. But what about the children? What became of her nephews?

"W-what about my nephews? Dudley Dursley and Harry Potter?" she asked weakly and clutched the phone.

"Dudley Dursley was inside the car when the accident happened but he survived with only a few bruises and scratches. Harry Potter is still at his boarding school and according to my knowledge he should be arriving to King's Cross Station in London on next Friday," Cheryl explained. "As his next kin, his guardianship would transfer to you if you wanted or he could go to a foster home until he comes off age. Vernon Dursley's sister, a miss Marge Dursley, has already obtained custody of Dudley Dursley but won't even consider taking Mr. Potter."

"Can-can I get back to someone about Harry's custody?" stammered Carole. "I'll-I'll need to talk with my partner about it first."

"Of course ma'am, do you have writing utensils nearby?" Cheryl enquired politely.

"Yes, just a minute," Carole was already reaching for the post-its on the kitchen counter and then the magnetic pen in the fridge. "Okay."

"Mr. Charlie Davidson from Social Service had been assigned to Mr. Potter's case. His number is-" Cheryl listed a string of numbers which Carole wrote down dutifully. "He should be able to answer any questions you might have."

"Thank you Ms. Beckett," Carole answered and put the pen down.

"I'm sorry for your loss Mrs. Hudson," Cheryl's sympathy filled voice came from the phone before the line went dead.

Carol put the phone down and went to the kitchen table. In daze she sat down and stared at nothing, silent tears streaming down her face.

That's how Burt found her fifteen minutes later, tear tracks on her face. Concern filled him immediately and he went to sit next to her. "Carole? What's happened?"

Tears began to stream down her face anew. "My baby sister's dead. She and her husband died in a car accident."

Understanding flooded him and he wrapped his strong arms around her shaking shoulders, letting her cry to his shoulder, all the while murmuring reassuring nonsense to her ear.

Soon though, she had no more tears left to cry and simply rested her throbbing head on his shoulder, drinking up his silent comfort. Then her thoughts turned to her nephew. She breathed through her nose to collect herself before raising her head. "Thank you for holding me," she said in a wet voice.

"Any time, love, any time," answered Burt and stroke her hair lovingly. She smiled weakly. "Wanna talk about it?"

She didn't but she knew she'd feel better after wards. "You know I'm from England, right?" Burt nodded. That he found out on their second date. "My family consisted of my parents, my two younger sisters and me. Petunia is… was three years younger than I am and Lily was two years younger than she was. I was twenty when I met Chris, he was twenty-two and engaged to his high school sweet heart. He tried to woo me but I told him bluntly to get rid of his engagement because I had no intention to become a secret mistress. We didn't meet again until I got my first job as a nurse in a military hospital, I was twenty-two. He was there to be treated for a bullet wound to the shoulder and sooner than I noticed I spent more time talking with him than taking care of him. I had just turned twenty-three when he proposed and I accepted. Not three weeks later my parents died and after the funerals we moved here, to Lima. Pretty soon I was pregnant with Finn and he was born June 5th '94, two weeks after I turned twenty four. When I was twenty-five both Petunia and Lily had married and gave birth to two boys, Dudley Dursley and Harry Potter. On Halloween '96 Lily and her husband were murdered and Harry was given to Petunia. According to her he was on their door step on the ext morning. The following year, I got the worst Christmas gift ever, Chris came back in a box. And now Petunia's dead too..."

Burt had been quiet during her tale and squeezed her shoulders in all the places in which he felt Carole needed comfort. "What about the boys... your nephews?"

"That's one thing we need to talk about," Carole began. "Dudley has been taken in by his paternal aunt, Marge Dursley. Harry... either I can take his guardianship or he goes to a foster home."

Ice filled Burt.

Foster home...

Not on his watch.

Not again.

Not after what happened to his childhood friend Josh in one of them.

"No kid is going to a foster home if I can help it," he said quietly. "I don't know if they're different over there than here but there's no way I'm dooming anyone into one. We can take care of him. We might need to maneuver the sleeping arrangements a little but I'm sure we can fit him somewhere in this house."

"Fit whom?" asked a sleepy Kurt from the doorway and made his way to the fridge. He took out a carton of strawberry flavored yoghurt and closed the fridge. Next he took a bowl from one of the cabinets and plucked a table spoon from a drawer. Lastly he took a box of muesli from a cupboard and carried his booty to the table. "Who were you talking about?"

Neither adult said anything, only staring at his tangled and pointing-in-every-direction hair.

"Kurt," Burt began carefully, "do you know what your hair-"

Kurt silenced him with a murderous glare. "It's not even 9:30 on a Saturday morning, I can look exactly what the hell I fell like. And let me tell you, I feel like hell. I tried to stay up until Finn got home to make sure the idiot wouldn't strangle himself when he took off his clothes but I fell asleep around one am. My dreams were weird and I woke up all through the night. Then, when I finally fell into a somewhat peaceful sleep, Finn comes and crashes on top of me. During the last hour I've been trying to ignore Finn's snoring, so excuse me if I don't feel like being pretty at the moment."

Not once did he raise his voice but at the end he relaxed a little. Even his hair seemed to fall down and obey gravity once again when he poured the yoghurt into the bowl almost instantly followed by muesli.

"You still haven't answered my question, who's going to fit into this house?" Kurt asked, ignoring his earlier rant and looked at his dad expectantly.

Burt and Carole glanced at each other before Burt turned back to him.

"That is something we need to discuss with all four of us present," the older Hummel finally said.

"I can go wake Finn," Kurt offered with an innocent look on his face. Neither adult bought it.

"During dinner today."

Kurt rolled his eyes and took a spoonful of his breakfast.

Having grown up in the house as an only child, he knew it better than anyone, including his dad. He knew all the loose floor planks and wall panels. He knew from which corner it was blowing in just by listening. He knew where a spider colony lived and where the mice family slept. He knew which steps creaked and where you could hear everything said in the kitchen or the living room.

But he also knew where there was an unused room which is why he suggested it as this "Harry's" bedroom.

"What about the attic?"

"No," answered Burt right away.

"Why not?" inquired Kurt with narrowed eyes.

Both Hudsons switched looking between the father and the son, knowing they both were incredibly stubborn.

"Because it isn't suitable for winter use," Burt answered. "Why do you think your room is in the basement?"

"Because I can't stand heights," Kurt tossed back. "And of course it's suitable for winter use. Where do you think I slept after that fight we had two years ago?"

"The library?" offered Burt hopefully.

Kurt snorted. "Yeah, if I wanted asthma. No, I took a couple of the big pillows and quilts and went to the attic. Sure it was a bit chilly but nothing a few small repair can't change. They'll be easy to make when we're redecorating the room. If you don't want to help cleaning it, you don't have to. I'm sure I can do it by myself tomorrow if I have to, but I would appreciate help repairing the walls. Now that this discussion is over, we can go back to dinner. Finn, would you please pass the vegetables?"

"But Kurt-"

"I said over!" snapped the teenager and took the vegetables Finn offered. "Carole, these vegetables are delicious, what do you add to them?"

"Just some honey when they're frying, dear," answered Carole who wanted to dissolve the tension between the Hummels. "It's a trick I came up with to make sure Finn ate his vegetables as a kid. If it was sweet, he'd eat it. He even tried to add sugar to his potatoes once when I wasn't looking but he couldn't eat them."

Kurt laughed. "I believe I tried something similar with syrup and sausage. Let me tell you, it was even worse than sausage without syrup..."

Next day Kurt held to his word: he emptied the attic of the few boxes stored there, dusted the place, vacuumed, washed the windows and finally mopped the floor with all the windows open on all four windows. All this was done in light blue khakis, deep blue tank top and sky blue apron, no shoes or socks in sight, and his iPod was in his apron pocket, headset on. By three in the afternoon it was sparkling like the best of them in the summer sun, at least if you ignored the condition the walls were in. That was taken care of by Burt who had been shopping for repair materials most of the time Kurt had been cleaning.

The morning after Kurt was a bit stiff, not used to so intense cleaning. When he hobbled to the kitchen Burt fussed over him and even made his tea for him (a first, and it was horrible, but Kurt appreciated the effort).

"Dad, I'm fine, honestly," Kurt finally said when he'd had enough. "So what if my muscles are a bit stiff, they'll loosen up during the day. Say Carole, have you already called that Mr. Davidson to tell him that you've decided to take Harry?"

"Yes, the call ended fifteen minutes ago," Carole nodded and sipped her tea. "Harry'll be arriving here on Sunday evening."

"Oh," Kurt frowned. "I can't be here to welcome him then. I promised Mercedes weeks ago I'd spend the night at her place. We're going to watch the musical marathon on one of the movie channels and then we're going to-"

"Okay, Kurt, I think we get the picture!" Burt interrupted and fidgeted uncomfortably. He loved Kurt, he really did, but he didn't need to know that he talked about boys with his girl friends like he had talked about girls with his boy friends. "It's too bad, really, you're the one who has decorated this place, you should be the one to show it off."

Kurt chuckled a was nice to know he was appreciated at home when in school his peers just... just didn't understand him, save Mercedes... "Yes, it's a shame but I can't help it..."

Kurt's fidgeting was making Mercedes nervous, he could tell from the way she ate the popcorn like there was no tomorrow. But there was no way he could help it! Harry's plane had landed almost two hours ago and surely they were already home! And he wasn't there to welcome him and show him around to see all the reactions! It was unfair! He wanted to hear the praise of his decorating style!

And of course he wanted to meet Harry himself...

"Okay, what's up Kurt?" Mercedes finally snapped and paused 'My Fair Lady'. "Normally you're relaxed after you've redecorated something and now you just can't sit still."

"Oh, uh, sorry Mercedes," Kurt sighed and bowed his head. "It's just... Finn's cousin... I'm not there... my pride and joy... he doesn't like it? ...from England... fancy boarding school... And now I'm not there to see his first reactions to the rooms!"

"I didn't understand even half of what you just said," answered Mercedes. "Only something about Finn's cousin, from England and a boarding school. Could you please explain a little better?"

Kurt bit his lip. "Finn's aunt died and now his cousin is coming to live with us. It was his room that I redecorated. What if he doesn't like it? I spent hours upon hours on that room, Mercedes! What if it's not up to his standards? He's been to a fancy British boarding school since he was eleven! I've seen pictures from that kind of schools. How is anything supposed to compete with that? And only mental cases or the crème de la crème goes to one! How am I supposed to act if he's some English gentleman? What if he's anti-gay? Or some super Christian? Or he dresses better than I do?"

"Calm down, Kurt!" Mercedes chastised him. "You know anything about him?

"Only that he's a year younger than me and that he's gone to that fancy boarding school," Kurt answered. "For all I know he could be a one eyed freak with three arms or a bully worse than Karofsky!"

"So you're concentrating on all the negative stuff," Mercedes narrowed her eyes. "Has it even crossed your mind that he could be gorgeous, kind and smart?"

Actually it hadn't even crossed Kurt's thoughts, he'd been too caught up in the fact that Harry was younger than he was: it wouldn't be fair if he was gorgeous and kind and smart, because Kurt wanted someone older (or at least same age) than him, someone who would take care of him! "No, I haven't thought of that," he frowned. "Besides, he's younger than us, and with our luck, he's a homophobic racist or something."

"You're always such a bag of sunshine aren't you?" smirked Mercedes. "Now that you've told me what's bothering you, do you think you can sit still for the rest of the movie? You're gonna met him tomorrow anyway."

"Yeah," Kurt nodded with a thoughtful expression, "I think I can."

Mercedes continued the movie and they fell into the story of Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins.

With a sigh Kurt sat down to the park bench with his art pad and pencil case. When he'd gotten home half-an-hour ago he'd found the house empty. There were messages on the fridge that assured him they were all alive: Finn was on a date with Rachel, Carole and his dad were in the supermarket and Harry was apparently on a walk. He left his own message under Harry's hastily scribbled one (Harry had an awful penmanship), telling them he'd gone to the park and not to worry.

He glanced around the park to find some inspiration and his eyes fell on a lonely child in the swing set. Kurt himself had loved swings when he was younger and would often sit in them alone because no one wanted to play with the girly boy: boys didn't like him because he was different, girls didn't like him because he was a boy. The girl in the swing seemed to be a tomboy based on the baseball cap on her short, blond hair, Batman T-shirt and the well worn sneakers. There was no pink in sight which made Kurt smile slightly. While he liked pink, he never thought he'd see a little girl that didn't. His smile fell when he saw the other girls on the play ground glance in her direction with sneers and holier-than-thou looks. Girls' bullying could sometimes be worse than that of boys'. Boys used most often violence but still acknowledged the individual they were bullying, girls rather ignored them and talked shit about them behind their backs. In the long run, what the girls did was more harmful than what the boys did, even if what the boys did caused more hurt when it happened.

Unconsciously Kurt began to draw the lonely little girl in the swing.

He was doing the shadowing when someone spoke next to him.

"You're a really good drawer," the British accented voice said. "You've captured that little girl's loneliness into that picture really well."

Kurt didn't look up from his work. "Thanks. I like to draw even if my passion lies in singing."

"That's a pity," the stranger commented. "You could make millions if the right people saw your works, if your other drawings are as good as that one, that is."

"And how would you know? You're in Lima, doomed to be a Lima looser for the rest of your life if you don't get out of here as soon as you can," Kurt commented as he did some last details, then he lifted his pencil off the paper and sighed. "Done." He turned to look at the person next to him.

The boy had stylishly messy black hair, expressive green eyes, strong body build, some muscles and aristocratic features. In short, he was incredibly handsome. His head was cooked a little to the right and he was observing Kurt.

"I knew my life was interesting but never did I think I'd meet one of your kind this early in my life," he said with a smile.

Kurt was confused. He'd never seen this boy in his life and what did he mean with his 'kind'? If he meant gay, he could just say so!

"What do you mean my kind?"

"Why, you're an angel of course!" the strange boy answered with a smirk. "There's no way someone as beautiful as you is completely mundane."

Red filled Kurt's cheeks and a warm feeling filled him. Never before had anyone but his mother called him beautiful, it was always pretty or cute or girly but now a boy he'd never met and wasn't likely to meet again sat next to him and told him he was beautiful. How surreal was that? And being compared to an angel? Sure, his dad had called him an angel once but that was because he'd save the dinner Burt was about to burn.

"You're not from around here are you?" he asked and smiled, lowering his eyes from the boy's intense gaze.

"Nope, just moved here from London actually," the boy admitted with an embarrassed smile.

"I could tell you are from Britain and from a bigger place than Lima because small towns such as this one... well, boys calling boys beautiful ends with both being beaten up inside the dumpster, just a fair warning," Kurt shrugged. He didn't want the other to suffer from the same thing he did when in school. "Not that I don't appreciate the compliment, I spend rather long times to make sure I look the best I can so it's nice to hear it's working."

"I'm sure you would look quite lovely au naturale too," the boy grinned. "And chill, I can take care of my self, I've dealt with bullies before. If it's someone who wants to beat you up, you have to learn to be faster than them. If it's someone who tries to humiliate you, do it yourself then dare them to do it, call them chickens if they don't. If someone's looking for a verbal fight, you have to have a well rounded education to know more about things than they do. If it gets to sexual harassment, you go to someone who can help, and I don't necessarily mean an adult. I've found that adults do more harm than good in bullying situations."

"I have a way with the words sometimes," Kurt shrugged, "and I can pretty much evade it if a fist comes flying to my face but I'm no way fast and I hate sweating." they were silent for a while, watching each other, and Kurt noticed a fallen eye thinking he reached for it and blushed. "Sorry, it's an eye lash."

He smiled. "You're supposed to wish when you find one. Go on."

Kurt cooked his head lightly and blew the eye lash away.

"What'd you wish?" the boy asked curiously.

Blushing furiously, Kurt shook his head. "I can't tell! It won't come true if I do!"

"Hmm, good point," the boy admitted with a pout. "Anyway, I think I should head home, I've got to send an email to a friend of mine so that she won't kill me for not contacting her and telling her I'm okay and alive. I guess I'll see you around," the boy said, got up from the bench, stretched and began to walk away.

"Yeah, see you," Kurt called after him, really hoping they'd meet again. He turned a new page in his pad and began to draw the boy from his memory. Two hours latter the picture was almost ready when Carole called him home for dinner. He packed his pencils and closed his pad carefully, making sure nothing showed. Quickly he made his way home and put his thing on the small table in the entrance hall and took off his shoes. He walked to the dining room and froze in the door way.

The boy from the park was there.

"...aunt Carole, aunt Petunia threw a right fit when she found a weed in her precious petunias!" he was telling and everyone was laughing. He was the first to notice Kurt in the door way and his smile widened. "I had a gut feeling about you, you know, that we were sure to meet again."

A smile played on Kurt's lips. "I really hoped we'd meet again, and I guess my wish did come true."

The rest of the Hummel-Hudson family looked between the two of them.

"You know each other?" Carole finally asked.

Harry turned back to her. "Yeah, we met at the park today, not knowing who the other was and began to talk," he told her and Kurt went to sit next to him, nodding his agreement to the story. Harry leaned closer to him. "But I'm serious about you looking like an angel, and now that I know you can sing too, there's no denying it."


	2. Chapter two

Two weeks had passed since Harry first stepped on American soil and the only way for him to have been happier would have been if his godfather was still alive, which he wasn't which kind of made it the happiest he could be. He was happy with his aunt Carole and uncle Burt, as he'd taken to calling them, the two were obviously in love. He'd been introduced to Finn's girlfriend Rachel whom he found reminded him Hermione save for the fact that Rachel's passion was performing while Hermione loved her knowledge. Pretty soon after meeting Kurt in the park, Kurt confirmed that he was gay and Harry made it a hobby to make Kurt blush. Two days after he first began, Burt confronted him about it and he admitted to the older man he was attracted to Kurt and wanted to know him more before they would begin a relationship and that Kurt didn't know about his interest yet. Burt had looked at him seriously and told him not to hurt Kurt, he wasn't as strong as he appeared to be, which Harry instantly agreed upon.

Just to say Harry was baffled when aunt Carole gave him a laptop was an understatement of the year. That didn't mean he wasn't happy about it and would have lost himself to the wonderful world of internet for more than two days, if Kurt hadn't asked him if he wanted to go to the neighborhood pool with him. Harry simply couldn't pass on the opportunity show off his muscles in front of Kurt. The memory of Kurt's squeak and red face when Harry carried him went right down to one of Harry's favorite moments in the US that far. The moment was crowned when Finn took a picture of them under the urging from Rachel just when Harry had jumped to the pool, Kurt still over his shoulder. Kurt's horrified face had been made last for ever and Rachel forbid Finn from deleting it when Kurt later asked him to. She said it was just too cute. Later Finn smuggled a copy of it to Harry who put it among the photos he had of his friends on his desk.

The attic had gotten a touch of personality there hadn't been before and now it looked lived-in with Hedwig's perch, Harry's photos and his other small trinkets he'd deemed muggle safe, such as the sneakoscope Ron had gotten him when he turned thirteen and other small things. The book case on one of the walls was filled with his school books and the few other books he'd gotten from Hermione over the years. People rarely came to his room and to the untrained eye it looked like a normal muggle teenager's room but those who knew to look for them, saw the differences: the magical items and books, sometimes moving photos, Hedwig…

Speaking about magic, Harry was looking for his aunt, wanting to know if she knew about it and that if she did, would he still have to go to Hogwarts.

Many would wonder why he didn't want to return to the wonderful castle full of magic and wonderful memories now that it was known that he was the Chosen One. No more would students in the hallways come up to him and tell him how they thought he was a liar and that he should just quiet down and go die in a hole. No, now the hallways would be full of flirting females and admiring males and no Kurt. Sure his friends were still in England and would continue at Hogwarts but no person should build their lives only on their friends like he had been doing. What would be there left for him when they realized they were in love with each other? He'd be the third wheel. Of course he could try to find someone there but everyone there knew about the Boy Who Lived, dating him would be a social step to the most of them, nothing more.

Here he could be Harry, just Harry, Finn's cousin from England, no strings attached. Here he could purse who ever he wanted (like Kurt) without caring about what the public thought of him. Every place would have it's problems and people who thought they knew better than everyone else who were trying to push their opinions on others about gays and blacks and muggle borns and purebloods and werewolves and even house elves, for Merlin's sake! You couldn't run away from prejudice, it was every where, but you could try fighting it by spreading knowledge. Every place would have it's own bullies that enforce status quo and while Harry often had no problem with status quo, sometimes someone he cared about was hurt by it and then he'd have to change what ever hurt one of his friends.

He guessed that was his 'saving-people-thing' Hermione had been talking about…

"Harry? You okay, darling?" aunt Carole asked when he just stared at her for a while.

"Huh?" He startled slightly and was brought back to earth from his thoughts. "Oh, yes, I'm fine aunt Carole just thinking… Actually, could I talk to you about something?"

Carole who had been tending to the flower bed stood up and dusted her clothes. "Sure darling," she said and came inside. "Anything I can help with?"

"Oh, uh… yeah," mumbled Harry and fidgeted when Carole sat down. "I… umm… Do you know what school my mum went when she turned eleven?"

"You do mean Hogwarts, right?" Carole asked. "You wonder if I know about magic."

"Heh," Harry laughed sheepishly, "yeah."

"If you want to continue at Hogwarts, I have no problem with it," Carole continued. "We'd just have to either tell Burt or come up with a good lie about it."

"No! No, no, no! I don't want to continue at Hogwarts!" answered Harry quickly. "That's what I wanted to talk to you about. I've already experienced the whole boarding school thing and while I love Hogwarts, there are simply too much going on there, with Voldemort coming back and all…"

Carole frowned. "That megalomaniacal mass murderer? What's he got to do with you?"

Harry laughed hollowly. "He's the one who murdered my parents and he's been trying to kill me since then. Actually, I've only had one year at Hogwarts that he himself hasn't tried to kill me and that year people thought I had an other mass murderer after me."

"Oh my," Carole covered her mouth. "If that's true, I wouldn't even let you go back there, it obviously isn't as safe as it was during Lily's time there. Don't worry darling, I'm sure we can get you enrolled to McKinley high with Finn and Kurt." She patted his head, never mind the fact that he was a head taller than her.

"Thanks aunt Carole," smiled Harry, enjoying the familial touch. "Say, would you mind if I made dinner today?"

"Not at all darling," Carole shook her head. "Go ahead but make sure it's healthy."

Harry rolled his eyes. He'd been making Dudley's diet foods for two summers, he knew how to make healthy food taste good. "Don't worry, I've got it covered."

The rest of the summer flew by and before Harry noticed it was the morning of the first day of school and he was looking through his clothes for something to wear. He wanted to give a good impression on his teachers and school peers but had no idea what to wear. He swallowed a curse when he found an other unusable shirt from his closet and flung it through the air to his bed. He'd have to go deeper into the dreaded closet, he decided and was already halfway in when the knock on his door startled him so that he hit his head to the shelf above him.

"Yes?" came the muffled shout from the closet.

"You okay in there Harry?" Kurt's worried voice question from the now open door.

"No! I have no idea what to wear!" he whined and crawled out from his closet just as Kurt climbed the stairs. "Kurt! Help meee! You're the only one with a fashion sense in this house!" He aimed his giant puppy dog eyes at Kurt who blushed, just like Harry had intended.

"Okay, I'll help you, you big oaf!" Kurt muttered and began going over Harry's clothes he'd already discarded as useless. He held up a shirt for consideration before shaking his head. This was repeated a few times and Harry was beginning to feel chilly in only his boxers when a plain white T-shirt hit him in the face soon followed by a button up that looked like the night sky. "Well, what are you waiting for? Put them on while I search for your pants," snapped Kurt and dove to the closet. Harry, who didn't want to find out if Kurt's irritation was because of him or someone else, did as he was told and waited for the pants he knew were sure to appear soon. He didn't have to wait for long before dark jeans flew from the closet and landed at his feet. He put them on quickly and still waited. Kurt never let anyone go with only the bare necessities. He wasn't disappointed because soon Kurt emerged his closet with a black west for him to put over the button up. "And then you need black socks and dark shoes, but I'm sure you can find those on your own."

Harry smiled widely and gave Kurt a spontaneous hug. "Thanks Kurt, you're really amazing, you know that?" he released his hug and swept over to the drawer where he kept his socks, just in case Dobby ever came for a visit.

Kurt just nodded dazedly with blush stained cheeks and stared at Harry who bent over the open drawer. That ass was delicious looking… He shook his head almost violently. No thinking such thoughts of Harry! He obviously only liked Kurt as a friend, no matter how much he sent mixed signals. "I'll go down stairs. Do you want a ride? To school I mean."

"If it won't be a bother," answered Harry and came up with a pair of black socks. "If it is, I'm sure I can still catch Finn before he leaves to fetch Rachel."

"Oh, no, it's no problem at all," Kurt blushed. He wanted to keep Harry away from Rachel. He didn't trust her near any straight or bi guys. "Besides, I think he already left to get his precious girlfriend. At least his car isn't in the garage or on the drive way."

"Okay, I'll be down in two minutes," Harry told him as he was forcing himself to go down the stairs, not wanting to intrude on his privacy more than he already had.

He sighed and closed Harry's door behind him. He really, really liked Harry, more than he had ever like Finn and that had been a serious crush. And Mercedes had been giving him these knowing glances since she met Harry three days after he arrived. It was starting to get annoying, especially with Harry's tendencies to make him blush. It was like he was doing it on purpose! Just thinking of things Harry normally did made Kurt blush. He might casually hand him some sort of flower and tell him that it reminded him of him or he might take his hand in a public place or he could sporadically lift him over his shoulder and carry him for the rest of the day. There were some romantic things he had yet to do, such as serenade him or profess his undying love for him… but everything else was already done!

But he was worried about Harry. He was such a free spirit that the high school hierarchy could really hurt him and Kurt and Finn wouldn't be able to protect him, even with the help from Mercedes and Rachel. But on the other hand… Harry wasn't likely to just lay down and take the bullying. He would most likely rally some younger students to stand behind him and go to the principal with an official complaint… Kurt would gladly join him then and give his full support…

He reached the bottom of the second stairs and headed to the kitchen where his dad and Carole were sitting at the table. He took a seat opposite from them, conveniently leaving the only free seat next to him for Harry.

"Was he already awake?" Burt asked as he set down his coffee.

"Yeah, he just didn't know what to wear," answered Kurt. "He asked me to find him something, and me being the generous person that I am, I found him a great outfit that is sure to dazzle the rest of the students and teachers of McKinley high."

"And them being dazzled has nothing to do with me of course," Harry teased from the door. "At least I won't be trying to dazzle them like I do you, mon petit ange," he gave Kurt his charming grin.

Kurt blushed and averted his eyes. Harry had taken to calling him "his little angle" in different languages every day of the week and Mondays were always French. Tuesdays were Sweedish, "min litten engel", Wednesdays were Finnish for some reason, "pieni enkelini", Thursdays were Japanese, "boku no chiisai tenshi", and so on until Sunday when he was simply his little angel.

Harry took a toast and put some jam on it before cramming it all in his mouth and taking a large glup of orange juice to wash it down.

"Well, I'm ready," he said cheerfully and took a napkin to wipe his mouth. "When are we leaving?"

Harry sat in Kurt's passenger seat and fidgeted. It was worse than his first trip to Hogwarts and that had been a trip to a wholly new world. On the other hand, the stories he's heard of American high school were all quite scary.

He took a deep breath. "So this is it. American high school. Do you really have mean, stupid blondies and their posse ruling the school?" he asked and turned to Kurt.

"We had one until Quinn joined Glee and had a baby," answered Kurt and smoothed his hair for one last time. "Brittany isn't mean enough and Santana isn't blond. So at the moment we don't have a libby, unless you count coach Sylvester who rules the school with an iron fist."

"No, teachers don't count," Harry sighed. "This coach Sylvester, she's the coach of Cheerios, right?"

"Yes, she's a real terror but she knows what she's doing," came Kurt's distracted answer. "Have you seen my phone? I'm sure I took it with me…"

Harry held out Kurt's blueberry. "Here, you gave it to me to hold while you drove after Mercedes' call ended."

"Thank you Harry," Kurt said as he quickly took the phone and stuffed it to his bag.

Harry laughed lightly. "You're acting like this is your first day in a new school instead of mine," he said and opened the car door to get out. "Relax, will you? I'm going to be fine."

"Harry, seriously, call me if you get lost or something," Kurt called after him just before the door slammed shut. "Carole would skin both Finn and I alive if we let something, anything, happen to you on your first day…"

Harry, who was already busy observing the other students, simply waved his bye and soon had faded to the mass of the students.

With a sigh Kurt got up from his seat and to the warm summer air. He hoped the bullies would give him some slack on the first day back but he doubted it because as he locked his car he saw some of the usual ones already starting to group by the dumpster.

'You have to be faster than them,' Harry's voice echoed in his mind. 'Ignore them if they call you. Walk faster if they approach you.'

He squared his shoulders, shouldered his bag and began his dangerous trip through the parking lot.

Pretty early into the day Harry found a boy, Jacob Israel, with a camera to be excellent comic relief. Deciding to follow him around he soon noticed the guy was doing an interview about the Gleeks, as he'd started to call Kurt and Finn's Glee friends.

The first Gleeks the kid found were Finn and his girlfriend Rachel.

"Rachel, what is your response to the accusation that you're especially hard to work with?"

Rachel, who was buttoning (or straightening, Harry wasn't close enough to see which) Finn's shirt, seemed surprised before composing herself and smiling widely.

"As her boyfriend," Finn interrupted what ever Rachel was going to say, "I'll answer that."

"We've been doing it all summer!" Rachel beamed at the camera.

"Rachel's what you call a "controllist"," Finn tried to explain patiently to Jacob with a long suffering sigh.

"Finn!" Harry called. "'Controlilst' isn't a word. We'll be working on your vocabulary when we get hime this evening."

"Yes, I'm controlling," admitted Rachel. "Performing is my life!" she added passionately. "And yes do I have opinions about it? Does my need to constantly express my opinions annoy my fellow glee clubbers..."

"Yes," Finn breathed out quite loudly as even Harry heard him.

"That was out loud, slow poke," Harry commented from the background, barely holding his laughter down.

"And who are you?" the kid asked Harry.

"Harry Potter," answered Harry with his normal charming grin. "Finn's cousin from England. It's nice to meet a real American nerd."

"Will Schuester. How do you respond to a recent post on my blog saying your Glee Club song selections sound like they come from a drag queen's iPod? " Jacob's annoying nasal voice asked the young teacher sitting behind the piano.

"W-well I try to do something for everyone. 25% showtunes, 25% Hip Hop, 25% Classic Rock... " the teacher, Mr. Schue as Kurt and Finn called him, tried to explain.

"100% Gay," Jacob interrupted him.

"Just like you Jacob," Harry called from the door. "You're hilarious!"

"Confirm or deny the rumor that since you knocked up Quinn Fabray, you spent all you summer pool cleaning money on vasectomy?" Jacob asked a quite tough looking boy in the boy's locker room.

"It's true," the boy sighed. "It's the responsible thing to do."

"Is it also true that you're suffering from crippling depression since you're not over miss Fabray?" a curious Jacob asked with no self preservation.

The boy was quiet a few seconds before taking the camera and punching Jacob. "That's none of your business."

"You deserved that Jacob," sighed Harry but a smile threatened to take over his face. "Man, why do you people pay for TV with people like Jacob around…?"

"How has life changed since the birth of your bastard child?" Jacob asked a blond girl who was at her locker.

"Well, I'm happy to be back and I'm ready to start fresh," she said with a bright smile. When she noticed the camera zooming on her friend's breasts she forced the camera back to her. "And I'm a lot less hormonal so there's really no crying…"

"How was your summer?" Jacob asked the Hispanic cheerleader leaning to the locker next to the blond girl's as his eyes went to her sizable breasts.

"My eyes are up here, Jewfro. And it was uneventful," the girl answered dismissively.

The other blond girl next to her leaned over to answer. "People think I went on vacation, but actually I was lost in the sewers."

"Desperate much, Jacob?" snickered Harry as he leant against the opposite lockers.

"What can you say about the rumor that you're dating?" Jacob asked a couple of Asian kids.

"Just because we're both Asian?" the girl scoffed. "That's racist!"

"Totally racist," the boy agreed and they walked past Jacob, moving to hold hands before they turned at the corner. A boy in a wheel chair rolled from where the Asian couple had turned to and looked crest fallen.

"You're a racist, Jacob. How do your readers feel about that?" sneered Harry from the background.

"Did you know there's a forum on my blog that's begging you to stop rapping?" Jacob asked the teacher who was now sitting behind his desk.

"Wait… the kids don't like it when I rap?" the teacher frowned, obviously alarmed by the accusation.

"Wow, even Malfoy's not that rude," Harry looked thoughtful, "at least to a teacher…"

"When are you Glee clubbers going accept that people hate you? That you're just a glorified karaoke club designed to make advertisers pay millions of dollars?" Kurt closed the door of the boy's rest room in Jacob's face.

"You know Jacob," Harry sighed, "I wouldn't be surprised if he came out and bitch slapped you right in front of the camera…"

When Kurt came out of the bathroom, he opened his mouth. "You know what Jacob? It doesn't take much courage for people to park their cottage cheese behinds in their Barkaloungers and log onto the Internet and start tearing people down, does it? But you know what does take some courage? Standing up and singing about something. So here's a message for everyone that reads your blog. Next time, instead of posting an anonymous comment online, say what you have to say TO MY FACE! "

Right after he quite empathically said the last part, a black jock threw a red slushy in Kurt's face.

"Welcome back, Lady!" he sneered and would have gone by without anyone even batting an eyelash had Harry not had been ready explode just from Jacob's questions.

But, well, since he was ready to explode, he grabbed the jocks collar. "Dude, do that again, and I'll fucking pummel you to the ground. And you know what? You can't even complain about it to the principal since I could appeal to the fact that you're bullying others. I might get suspended for a week, but you'd get expelled since I'm sure quite many of the other students would be ready to talk against you," Harry shoved the jock away from him, went over to Kurt and Jacob, took the camera, put his arm around Kurt and led him back inside to the bathroom.

He sat Kurt to one of the open stalls and went to get some wet paper towels. Before he wetted any he set the camera on the sink, facing the mirror that showed the stall he'd sat Kurt in. He kneeled in front of Kurt and gently began to wipe the slushy away.

Kurt was trying to hold in his tears. While he was used to getting slushied almost daily, he hadn't wanted to be humiliated in front of Harry who must now think he can't even take care of a bullying problem. Though… it was nice that someone was trying to protect him from it, even if it was Finn's younger cousin.

"This a regular happening?" asked Harry as he wiped Kurt's forehead and applied some magic to the cleaning, doing his best to ignore the tears glittering in Kurt's eyes. He knew no one wanted to be humiliated like that in front of someone they liked and if Kurt broke down now he'd regret it for the rest of his high school life, maybe longer.

"Yeah," choked Kurt. "Almost daily. All because I'm gay and in Glee."

Harry frowned. Daily? He doubted Burt knew how bad it really was. If he knew, he would have taken Kurt away from McKinley long ago and hidden him away somewhere, possibly a tower and he'd have the only copy of the key. He chuckled at the mental image.

"What?" Kurt asked, not seeing anything funny in the situation.

"Nothing," Harry shook his head. "Just imagining what uncle Burt would do if he knew how bad it really was. You know, I think he'd lock you up to a tower and he'd be in possession of the only copy of the key."

Kurt could see the humor in that and smile slightly.

"Then of course you'd have to grow out you hair," Harry continued, encouraged by Kurt's smile. "So that I'd have something to climb up to save you with. Like Rapunzel and her prince."

"Would we live happily ever after too?" Kurt couldn't stop himself from asking but when what he'd said reached his brain, he blushed and turned his face away from Harry who had stopped wiping the slushy from his face.

They were quiet for a moment and Kurt was sure Harry was going reject him when he saw him open his mouth.

"Only if my angel would have me," was the quiet answer as Harry put the wet paper towel away and turned Kurt to look at him, Kurt's face gently held in place.

Kurt searched Harry's face for any signs of a joke, any hint of mischievousness in his eyes. There was none. The greenest eyes Kurt had ever seen were full of sincerity and protectiveness and… dare he hope it… love… A tear fell from his left eye but Harry's thumb wiped it away and concern and fear of rejection filled the eyes mere inches from his face.

"Yes," Kurt finally whispered. "I'd have you for as long as you'll have me."

A blinding smile bloomed on Harry's face and he drew Kurt's face closer, like he was gong to kiss him, but at the last moment he changed direction and kissed Kurt's forehead. Kurt was both relieved and disappointed at the same time, relieved that they hadn't kissed yet and disappointed that they hadn't kissed yet, if that made any sense. When he lifted his eyes to Harry's once again, they were almost literally glowing with happiness. Harry must have seen the question in his eyes.

"We're going to take things slowly," he explained with a grin. "I'm not ready for anything big and I doubt you're ready for anything but hand holding, hugs and kissing cheeks yet and we have all the time in the world to make this work, so let's not ruin what we have by being hasty."

Kurt thought over Harry's reasons quickly and found them to be good and accurate on his part. When had Harry gotten to know him so well? "I quite agree, I've seen many relationships destroyed because either side was persuading the other to do things they weren't ready for yet. But I'll tell you, in my timetable, if we haven't-"

"Kissed in the next two weeks, you're breaking up with me, I know," Harry smiled. "I over heard you and Mercedes talking about your timetables in dating. During two first weeks the first kiss, one month and introduction to the family, three months and snogging, five months and touching, six months of a steady relationship, and if both parts of the relationship are ready, sex."

Kurt's face went flaming. "You heard that?" he asked in a small voice. That had been a private conversation.

"You were in the garden and it was blowing from that direction. My window happened to be open and I was too lazy to close it when I realized what I was hearing. Plus it gave me an advantage to every other boy you could have dated so I made a note of remembering everything," answered Harry truthfully and picked up the wet towels again. Now was Kurt's clothes' turn.

"You were already strategizing against my other possible boyfriends?" asked an astonished Kurt as Harry began to wipe slushy from his jacket. "That was three weeks after you moved in with us!"

"Early bird catches the worm, and you, mon petit ange, are one juicy worm," Harry said with a straight face. Kurt's face must have shown his horror at being compared to a worm when Harry laughed. "Or would you prefer being a caterpillar?"

"Yes, at least it turns to a butterfly," Kurt mock sneered when he realized Harry was teasing him.

"You are like a caterpillar anyway," Harry nodded and stood up. "You're still developing but you'll know when you turn into a butterfly, and I'm going to be there watching the whole way."

Kurt's blush returned with a vengeance. If there was one thing he'd learned about Harry during summer it was that Harry kept his word and now Harry was saying he'd be there the whole time for Kurt. That was almost as good as professing his undying love.

"While I'm not in love with you yet, Kurt Hummel, I really, really like you and I feel like I could spend the rest of my life with you," Harry confessed and threw the paper towels away.

"I'm not in love with you yet either, Harry Potter, but I have a feeling it won't be long until I am," Kurt smiled and stood up from the toilet seat. He glanced into the mirror and his eyes widened. While he seemed somewhat moist, the slushy stains were all gone from his clothed, hair and face. "Harry, you're a real miracle worker."

"Huh?" Harry turned to look at him and saw what he meant. "Oh, umm, don't mention it, I learned a lot of cleaning techniques from aunt Petunia when I was younger and I got pretty good at cleaning fresh stains…" 'And of course the magic helped…'

"Still, Thank you," Kurt said and rose to his tip toes to kiss Harry's cheek. When he got back down both of them were blushing, though Kurt's was more prominent than Harry's.

The warning bell went of and startled both teens. Kurt shouldered his bag, Harry swung his rucksack to his back and took Jacobs camera. "Open or closet?" he asked just before Kurt opened the door.

"Open," Kurt answered and looked at Harry over his shoulder with a smile. "I don't feel ashamed for having such a great boyfriend as you."

Harry answered to the smile and followed Kurt out of the bathroom. Jacob was waiting them outside and Harry thrust the camera to him with a scowl and menacing glare that had Jacob running before he got to ask the other questions he obviously had for Kurt.

A few hours latter Harry stood outside the choir room, listening to the Glee meeting.

"These are some comments from Jacob Israel's latest Glee blog," the teacher, Mr. Schue was sying. "Glee is a giant ball of suck.""

"We get it Mr. Schue," Kurt interrupted him. "Everyone still hates us. So what? So we're plankton on the high school food chain. The only difference is that none of us really care." He laughed helplessly.

"Kurt's right," Mercedes said and looked around for support. "They can bring it all they want, they're not gonna break us."

"I'm really happy that you guys have really bonded. The problem," he stressed, "is that all this negative stuff is keeping others from auditioning."

"We're good," the Asian girl shrugged. "Why do we need more members?"

"Since Matt transferred we don't have enough members," Mr. Schue explained. "And if we want to go to the nationals, if we want to beat the Vocal Adrenaline, we have to go from a small rebel force to a giant wall of sound!"

"Yeah," Rachel agreed and stood up. "Mr. Schue's right, guys. You didn't see Vocal Adrenaline at the regionals, they were epic. We're gonna need more voices in order to beat them."

"Yeah," Finn agreed and he too stood up and walked to the front. "I'm with Rachel on this one."

"You're going to have to trust me on this guys," Mr. Schue said. "Now, here's the plan. Nationals are in New York this year and we are going. Let's go show this school how cool it's gonna be, how cool we can be. If they're not gonna come to us, we'll have to go to them. They say we only sing showtunes and 80's pop. Let's show them how down we are. Let's give them the song of the year, New Directions style!"

That got some applause from the students but Finn was frowning.

"If we need someone, we could ask Harry," he commented and Harry felt his heart drop.

"Who's Harry?" Quinn asked.

"Finn's cousin," Mercedes said.

"My boyfriend," Kurt announced at the same time with a wide smile but movement ceased in the room. Outside Harry smirked.

Mercedes turned to him. "Oh, my God, when did this happen?"

"Earlier today," Kurt said with a shy smile. "He helped me clean off after Azimio slushied me and somehow we go talking about fairy tales and how he'd rescue me like Rapunzel's prince. Then I opened my mouth and asked if we'd live happily ever after like them and he said yes if I accepted him!" he beamed. "And while he has yet to serenade me," Harry made a mental note about that, "I've heard him sing, guys, and he's an amazing singer."

"Yeah, Harry's good," agreed Finn. "I heard him in the shower a few days back and while the song was weird, his voice was good."

Harry shifted and moved his head so that he could see into the room. He refused to blush because it was Weird Sisters he'd been singing so of course Finn would think it strange.

"And I believe we have an eavesdropper," Kurt smirked at Harry who tried shaking his head. "Come on in Harry."

He collected himself and walked in with an embarrassed grin. "Sorry, I just wanted to know what the Glee club was about. We had a choir back at Hogwarts but from what I've heard from Kurt, Finn, Rachel and Mercedes, Glee is totally different from it."

"You're the dude who was following Jacob around all the while making snide comments about him," the boy from the locker room, Puck if Harry guessed right, said with wide eyes.

"He was comical relief," Harry shrugged. "I don't know why you bother to pay for TV with guys like him around."

"It's so that our no-life parents don't have the time to screen out lives too closely," the black haired cheerleader smirked.

Harry gave her a calculating look. "I like your attitude. You're quite like I'd imagine Kurt if he was a girl. Thank Merlin he's not," he smirked right back at her. From the corner of his eyes he could see Kurt trying to look as small as possible while still appearing regal. "If he was, he'd be Queen Bee." With the disbelieving looks from most of the club (save Finn, who had to agree with Harry, and Kurt, who was trying to get the earth to swallow him) Harry sighed and rolled his eyes. "With the way he dresses and his place in the Cheerios he'd be Queen Bee. He knows what he wants and works tirelessly to get it. That's the attitude people look for in their leaders. Lucky for you and I, he's a guy."

"When you think about it like that," Quinn said with a half-afraid, half-respectful voice, "I think you're right."

"Of course I'm right," Harry scoffed. "I'm a great character judge."

"So Harry, are you going to join Glee?" Rachel decided to cut out this Kurt-praising.

"You'll have to show me what you can do tomorrow," Harry turned to smirk at her. He turned to Mr. Schue. "I'll come by your office tomorrow with my answer and to get my auditioning time if I'll join."

Mr. Schue just nodded and looked at him with appraising eyes.

"Are you going to practice now or can I steal Kurt away?" he asked the group at large. "I don't have a license or a car yet so I need him to get me home." Finn opened his mouth to speak. "No Finn, you've got a date with Rachel today right after school."

"We do?" he frowned and turned to Rachel who sighed and nodded.

"No, we don't practice today," Mr. Schue told the group. "It's the first day of the new school year, go out and have fun."

This got an enthusiastic welcoming from the Gleeks who got their things and were out of the room almost instantly, save for Kurt who was still pressed to his chair. He was gripping the chair and showed a great amount of restraint in not running and hiding.

"Did you mean that?" he asked quietly and let go of the chair.

"Did I mean what?" frowned Harry. "That you'd make an awesome girl? Or that I'm lucky that you're not a girl?"

"Umm… both?" offered Kurt weakly.

"Of course I meant them. You're perfect the way you are but you'd also make an awesome girl, and I'm lucky that you aren't a girl because then all the straight guys would be all over you and I wouldn't stand a chance," Harry told him honestly and lifted Kurt's bag over his shoulder. He offered his hand to Kurt who took it with a small smile and they left the school, only to return the next day and the day after that for the rest of the school year, always hand in hand, sometimes exchanging kisses before they parted for their lessons.


End file.
